As I'm putting together a new quote for a Dell laptop E6330 I see the option for adding vPro and I'm reminded to research this once again. We have just over 100 laptops and desktops across several states and Mexico so any remote management utility is worth reviewing. As I searched for vPro information yesterday I was underwhelmed by the information I could find and what I did find was old information.

My instinct is telling me to order all systems with vPro enabled going forward. Anyone know of a 'vPro 101' doc they can share? How well does SpiceWorks utilize vPro? Are there any hidden needs or costs like setting up a server or app to connect to vPro enabled systems? Do I need to drink the vPro kool-aid or use the force to configure vPro?

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I haven't found any good documentation or easy set up isntructions, but I have seen demo's of what vPro is capable of and it is a feature that SW has integrated support to take advantage of once set up.

Based on this I have started ordering my systems with vPro in the hopes that when they do release good documentation and set up instructions I will be in a good place to start using this feature.

If I understand correctly, vPro is to Intel what iLO is to HP, however I haven't tried nor tested it. We do have a couple of vPro enabled laptops here but after Spiceworks couldn't scan it and I couldn't work out how to access it, I let it be!

If I understand correctly, vPro is to Intel what iLO is to HP, however I haven't tried nor tested it. We do have a couple of vPro enabled laptops here but after Spiceworks couldn't scan it and I couldn't work out how to access it, I let it be!

Good luck on your search :) May the force be with you!

You are basically correct, but it also inlcudes a pile of other remote managment abilities. It has to be enabled and configured at the individual machine level before SW can scan it or use it. It is this first step (machine setup) that needs serious improvement in my mind

As above the documentation surrounding this sort of thing just isn't what it should be, I've tried with a few and didn't get very far. The other issue is your extremely restricted to what machines carry them, so going forward your looking at a very expensive cycle.

I did get DASH up and working on a batch of HP desktops, it was meant to be a Vpro alternative for AMD. Again poor documentation but I eventually got it sorted out. Now there certainly not the same, but as cool as I found the features once working, I have never touched them since. The ability to go into a powered down machine, and see how it's doing is fantastic but I consider it a luxury.

If it became more standard then there no reason not to. But imho it's not worth the current hassle and expense.

I use the AMT portion of vPro with Spiceworks, probably at its most basic because of the lack of good documentation. I set it up when i initially setup the PC. I configure it in BIOS. Once Spiceworks scans with the vPro user name and password, you get more info on the Inventory screen of the device. I have attached what it looks like. Also, I use the Intel AMT Terminal Spiceworks plugin from the device inventory. It allows me to remotely start the PC, and has a built in KVM viewer. What is nice about that is that when I reboot the machine, I do not lose connection like with VNC or RDP. I can get into the BIOS remotely and check settings if necessary. I tried using the Maintenance Manager plugin for scheduling maintenance, or to do a nightly wake for updates and then shut down, but it has never worked. Spiceworks support said "We've got an open bug ticket on it at the moment and it is schedule to be fixed in 6.3" but I'm not sure if there will be a 6.3. Maybe it will work in 7? Once again, I probably use it at its most basic, but it has come in handy.

I appreciate all the responses on this topic. I think the lure of what vPro can do and it's low implementation cost is worth including it on the next couple of systems I order. As a solo sysadmin I don't have as much time to test things like this as I would like but, with the help in this forum, I think I can probably get it going in its basic form and work it out from there. Hopefully, someone can pull together a more thorough implementation guide that can ease the pain for the rest of us.

Intel does have a lot of good documentation, just not the easiest to find.

For Spiceworks, start with the following site: https://msp.intel.com/navigator/Login.aspx. This web site is a walk thru on how to use vPro. The other cool thing about this site is a link to an Intel person that can help with vPro and SW.